Brophy's School-Record 30 Kills Lead Men's Volleyball to Second-Straight Tournament Title with 3-1 Win over Limestone

MISENHEIMER, N.C. Ė For the second-consecutive season, the Pfeiffer University menís volleyball captured the 2013 Conference Carolinas menís volleyball tournament championship scoring a 3-1 (25-17, 25-23, 22-25, 25-15) victory over Limestone College inside the Merner Gym on Saturday night. Caleb Brophy (Mission Viejo, CA) was named the tournamentís most outstanding player after putting down a school-record 30 kills. The second-seeded Falcons end the season at 17-8 recording back-to-back titles while the Saints finish 2013 at 15-14.

Backed by a raucous home crowd, Pfeiffer came out to a quick 4-1 lead on a Micah Bortner (Dallastown, PA) kill and ace by Brophy. Eric Zaun (Cherry Hill, NJ) started to bring the Saints back into the opening contest with his second kill of the night for a 10-8 match. Bortner and Kyle Mariano (Kendall Park, NJ) would later extend the Falcon lead to 14-10 while a few Pfeiffer miscues and kills from Zaun and Andrew Miller (Miami, FL) again kept the Saints alive trailing 19-15. Brophy would help the Falcons pull away late by throwing down three more kills including two of the final three plays to give Pfeiffer a 25-17 set and 1-0 match lead.

In the second, Pfeiffer had to come-from-behind trailing 9-6 early on after another Kevin Hart (Menifee, CA) kill. Brophy would then put down the next three points for a 9-9 game while striking again just moments later to put the Falcons up 14-13. A Miller kill coupled with a Pfeiffer attack error suddenly saw Limestone square the second set 22-22. After Brophy and Scott Warren (Manhattan Beach, CA) traded kills, a Bortner kill and set-ending error by the Saints got the Falcons to within one set victory of their second-straight title.

Limestone would hold off a potential Pfeiffer sweep carrying a 12-8 lead on another Hart kill until Brophy struck again squaring the contest up at 20 and 21. Two Falcon errors and pair of final kills by Zaun would help the Saints hold off the sweep forcing the fourth set with a 25-22 victory.

In the final stanza, Pfeiffer bolted out to a 12-6 lead using five more Saints errors while Brophy started the set with three-straight kills followed by David Specian (Loxahatchee, FL) ace. Back-to-back kills from Brophy and Bortner would force Limestone to burn their second and final timeout at 16-8 while Mariano and Brophy got the Falcons within four points of the title with kills for a 21-11 lead. Andrew Pile (Macungie, PA) would try to keep the Saints in it but a final kill from Fabio Diniz (Belo Horizonte, BRAZIL) and fitting championship-clinching kill from Brophy gave the Falcons their 3-1 win and second-straight championship.

Brophyís school-record 30 kills was aided by Specianís 50 assists and 13 digs. Brophy would hit .509 in the victory while libero Mark Hess (Lebanon, PA) would record 11 digs as all three were named to the 2013 all-tournament team. Zaunís 17 kills would lead Limestone followed by Millerís 11. Both were also named to the postseason team as well along with Angel Dache of Mount Olive and Joshua Jones of Lees-McRae.